On June 27, 1899, Mr. Carl E. Brown, of Columbus, Ohio, was granted
a patent,
innocuously titled "Musical Instrument." But this was a musical
instrument of
distinctive character, not to be equalled for many years to come. His
introduction pulled
no punches...

The primary object of my invention is to
provide a
musical instrument
that may be played upon by persons who cannot through circumstances
devote the time and
patience necessary to acquire sufficient technical skill to play with
abandon upon
instruments of the nobler sort.

The drawings show a fairly simple box,
with three
bass strings and three groups of three strings arranged in chords. The
remaining feature
is a slot into which a harmonica may be inserted.

"Wonderful Volume and Vibratory Effect," trumpeted the sales
literature,
which includes a photo (above) of a youthful-looking Mr. Brown holding
the instrument.
"Twice as Loud as Both Mandolin and Guitar." "One Person Can Furnish
Music
for Parties, Dances, Stage Entertainments, Etc."

Entertainments, maybe... because it certainly provokes a chuckle
watching someone
holding this box against their face and blowing/picking a tune.
Admittedly the box
provides a resonance chamber for the harmonica, but it ends up sounding
like, well, a
harmonica being played in a box. The soundbox itself is rather
interesting, though, as its
aspect ratio is quite different from most zithers, being only 16
inches long but 3"
deep at its deepest point. In addition, the soundboards are extremely
light, a bit under
1/8" thick.

[Oh, that "for many years to come" - amazingly enough, in the 50's
or 60's,
someone revived the concept. The "Hill Country
Harp" has a swiveling
harmonica
holder (though it doesn't blow into the sound box), a shape that's
roughly like the
Harp-O-Chord, and 4 individual bass strings. But they were even more,
uh, innovative...
Borrowing from an Indian instrument called a bulbul
tarang, they laid
out a set of 4 more
strings tuned to the tonic chord. Under one end lies a set of 3 partial
bridges, with
spring-loaded levers above them. When pressed, the lever "frets" the
strings to
produce a chord which corresponds to one of the other bass notes. This
one takes about 2
1/2 hands to play...]

Fortunately his imagination had not run its course, because on Oct.
2, 1900, he
patented another "Musical Instrument" which became the delightful
Harp-Zither.
No longer dismissing the instrument as not being one of the "nobler
sort," he
clearly had some specific goals in mind. Taking the by-then common
concept of the
guitar-zither, he made its form more compact by creating a dual-height
bridge at the lower
end, allowing the melody strings and the chord strings to be anchored
at the same place.
In addition, he wanted to make it possible to play while strolling, so
he provided the
post and open harp-like space so that it could be easily carried and
played by the
carrying hand from behind the instrument. The patent drawing shows the
production
instrument in every detail including a very under-sized hand holding
the post with finger
extended.

This is the instrument which, forlorn and bereft of paint and even
some body parts, was
restored by Margaret
MacArthur's husband
in the early 1960s, and played by her to the enchantment of all who
hear it. At the time
there wasn't much knowledge of the Harp-O-Chord company, and her
concerts and recordings
led to the instrument being popularly called "the MacArthur Harp."
Indeed, it
was sufficently enchanting that at least one luthier built some exact
reproductions. Lark
in the Morning lists this reproduction instrument in their catalog.

She has written a book, with an accompanying cassette, entitled "How
to play the
MacArthur Harp and all numerical harp-zithers." It gives a bit of
background and
tuning and playing instructions. She rests the end of the instrument on
her lap,
playing melody with her right-hand fingers. The fingers of her left
hand rest on the top
curve, and they slide up and down to allow her thumb to play notes in
the chord section
from the other side, thereby taking proper advantage of Mr. Brown's
design.

Of course, I lay mine down flat, like I play all the other ones, so
I don't get that
advantage. The inventor (perhaps grudgingly) admitted in half of one
sentence that
"it may be played while lying upon a table," and the actual instrument
has the
typical brass feet for resting on and transferring sound into a table.
As this instrument
has a rather small soundbox, that sort of mechanical amplification can
definitely be
helpful.

The Harp-O-Chord Co. was busy in the first years of the
century, buying lots in
Columbus in 1903 and putting up a factory. They began production and
sale of another
instrument, the "Little Joe", a 4-string, necked instrument that looked
vaguely
like a banjo. But it had a harmonica mounted in its head, and it only
had 3 frets. It
appears that it was tuned to an open chord, and that the frets were
positioned to be used
simply to bar all 4 strings to produce additional chords without
fingering.

Some other individuals known to be associated with the Harp-O-Chord
Co. were: Charles
H. Lindenberg, president in 1900-1903, who also operated another
business in Columbus;
John Cashatt, treasurer in 1903, who was also involved with several
other businesses, and
William W. McCallip, who was a principal in a successful wire fence
business in Columbus,
and who had some other patents for harmonica/stringed instruments.

But the Harp-O-Chord Co. disappears from the Columbus City
directories, by name at
least, by about 1906. Carl Brown, who had been previously listed as
manager there,
continued to be listed as "manager", but the directory didn't say what
he was
managing. By 1911, he was listed as being involved in the gas fixture
business, and it
appears that the time of Harp-O-Chord and the zither was past.

Oddly enough, the Little Joe survived, in some form. It reappeared
in the Sears catalog
in the years 1909-1919, and was seen in catalogs even later than that.
Did Sears simply
buy out all the unsold stock when the company closed? Did some other
concern take on the
manufacturing of the Little Joe? There's always more to discover...

Some final biographical information about Carl Brown - He was born
in Milan, Ohio on
March 15, 1866 to parents Frederick E. Brown and Rose Brown. By about
1894, Frederick had
died and Carl and his mother and brother Bert moved to Columbus. Rose
Brown appears to
have died in the early 1920s, and by 1923, Carl was married to Mary E.
Brown. He appears
to have operated several businesses in the 1920s, including the US
Manufacturing Co., oil
burners, the Interstate Signal Mfg. Co., auto accessories, and the E-Z
Remitter Co. These
last two were presumably to market his inventions of an automobile turn
signal and a
special envelope for mailing coins.

He spent the rest of his life in Columbus and continued patenting
new ideas. In
addition to the ones mentioned, they included a device strapped around
the neck to wake up
drowsy drivers, and a foot-pumped shower to be used while bathing in a
washtub. He passed
away in 1952, and until nearly his last year, his occupation was listed
in the city
directory as simply, "inventor."

Here's a small gallery of
Harp-O-Chord & related instruments.
the original Harp-O-Chord
the Harp-Zither
a reproduction Harp-Zither
the Harp of David